“State of the Union guest Desiline Victor, 102, will be the face of voting delays at address”

“She’s the American voter story of 2012,” said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project civil rights group. “She had the tenacity and the commitment to stay in line, but we know there were tens of thousands of others who didn’t get to vote.”

Dianis expects President Obama to touch on voting rights issues in his speech. He did so on election night and again during his inaugural address, when he said, “Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.”

When the White House contacted her organization looking for people who might represent the face of the problem, Dianis provided them with several possibilities. And that’s what led to tickets to Washington and a new outfit for the event for Victor. She will also visit the White House for a reception before the speech.

Cheap Speech and What It Has Done (to American Democracy), First Amendment Law Review (forthcoming 2018) (draft available)

The 2016 U.S. Voting Wars: From Bad to Worse, William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal (forthcoming 2018) (draft available)

Essay: Race or Party, Race as Party, or Party All the Time: Three Uneasy Approaches to Conjoined Polarization in Redistricting and Voting Cases, William and Mary Law Review (forthcoming 2018) (draft available)